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From the day before yesterday's featured article

Robert A. Heinlein

Starship Troopers is a science-fiction action film released on November 7, 1997. Directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier, it is based on the 1959 novel Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein (pictured). The story follows teenager Johnny Rico and his comrades as they serve in a 23rd-century interstellar war against aliens called the Arachnids. The film stars Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Patrick Muldoon, and Michael Ironside. Starship Troopers faced critical backlash, with reviewers seeing it as endorsing fascism, and disparaging its violent content. Despite initial box-office success, negative reviews and unfavorable word of mouth made it only the 34th-highest-grossing film of 1997. It has since been critically re-evaluated, and is now considered a cult classic and a satire of fascism and authoritarianism that has grown in relevancy. The film launched a multimedia franchise, video games, comics, and a variety of merchandise. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Sana, vocalist of Sajou no Hana

... that the name of the Japanese band Sajou no Hana (vocalist pictured) has no official meaning?
... that From Warsaw to Ojców, an 1897 Polish adventure and travel novel for young readers, was inspired by Jules Verne's works but reflects Polish patriotic and educational values?
... that a portrait engraver made the controversial decision to change a Sioux chief's war bonnet so that it would fit on the 1899 United States five-dollar silver certificate?
... that Charli XCX once followed George Daniel into a toilet but stopped halfway, and later wrote the song "Talk Talk" about the experience?
... that Rose O'Neill's marriage to Hugh Roe O'Donnell united two powerful noble families that had been rivals for centuries?
... that the practice of some Christians of making the lesser sign of the cross has been traced back to the 11th century?
... that Frederick Prigg and his predecessor as secretary of the Provisional Government of Oregon were both doctors who drowned in a river at Oregon City just three years apart?
... that a rainbow plaque marks the site of Peckham's Black Lesbian and Gay Centre?
... that one of the paintings sold by Beijing Hanhai was stolen by an emperor, and another was hidden in a well?

In the news (For today)

Donald Trump

Donald Trump (pictured) wins the United States presidential election.
Maia Sandu is re-elected President of Moldova.
In baseball, the Yokohama DeNA BayStars defeat the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to win the Japan Series.
A canopy collapse at Serbia's Novi Sad railway station kills fourteen people.

Two days ago

November 7

Tufted jay

1723 – O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60, a dialogue cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach for Leipzig, was first performed.
1837 – American abolitionist Elijah Parish Lovejoy was murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois, during an attack to destroy his printing press and abolitionist materials.
1934 – The first specimens of the tufted jay (pictured) to be scientifically described were collected in Mexico.
1949 – Oil was discovered in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Azerbaijan, leading to the construction of Neft Daşları, the world's first offshore oil platform.
1987 – Singapore's first Mass Rapid Transit line opened, with train services running between Yio Chu Kang and Toa Payoh.
1991 – Magic Johnson announced his retirement from professional basketball due to HIV infection.

Ibn Hazm (b. 994)
Paul Sandby (d. 1809)
Ruby Hurley (b. 1909)
Ellen Stewart (b. 1919)

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The day before yesterday's featured picture

The Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus) is a bird in the family Pelecanidae. With a length of 160 to 183 centimetres (63 to 72 inches), a mass of 7.25 to 15 kilograms (16.0 to 33.1 pounds) and a wingspan of 245 to 351 centimetres (96 to 138 inches), it is the largest pelican species and one of the world's largest living flying birds. The Dalmatian pelican has a range spanning across much of central Eurasia, from the Mediterranean in the west to the Taiwan Strait in the east, and from the Persian Gulf in the south to Siberia in the north. It is a short-to-medium-distance migrant between breeding and overwintering areas. The Dalmatian pelican's preferred habitat is lakes, rivers, deltas and estuaries, and it feeds on various fish species such as the common carp and European perch. Like many pelicans, it is often silent, but can be vocal during the mating season, engaging in a wide range of guttural, deep vocalisations, including barks, hisses and grunts. This Dalmatian pelican was photographed in flight over the Danube Delta in Romania.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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